Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges

Gear: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 wedges
Price: $189 each
Specs: Cast 8620 carbon steel stainless steel. Even lofts from 46 to 62 degrees, six sole grinds and three finishes.
Available: Pre-order, February 14; in stores, March 8

Who It’s For: Golfers who want to maximize spin and versatility around the green while enhancing feel.

The Skinny: By changing the way its Spin Milled grooves are added to the face, varying the center of gravity location based on loft and offering six unique sole grinds, Titleist’s SM10 wedges aim to provide the ultimate in shortgame versatility and control.

The Deep Dive: Titleist’s Vokey Design SM9 wedges are the most-played wedges in professional golf, with seven of the top 10 male players on the Official World Golf Ranking using them. Last season, Vokey wedges were used to win the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Open, British Open and could be found in the bags of 15 Ryder Cup players. 

That level of success at the elite level, combined with being the most-popular wedge at retail, means Titleist wedge guru Bob Vokey and his team needed to keep the things golfers liked about the SM9 as they worked to update it and develop its successor. With the release of the new Vokey SM10 wedges, the man they call “Voke” now feels he has a new wedge that can deliver even more spin, feel and control.

In the address position, the SM10 shows a thin topline and just a hint of offset. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

In the address position, sharp-eyed golfers will see the SM10 wedges have less offset and a straighter leading edge, which is the result of feedback from tour players. The pitching and gap wedges (46-52 degrees) have a more-compact shape than the sand and lob wedges, which also feature a higher, more-rounded toe area. At the same time, all the SM10 wedges have the same blade length, which remains unchanged from the SM9. 

In the pitching and gap wedges, Titleist shortened the hosel length, which shifted more of the head’s overall weight toward the toe. The result is the faces should not rotate closed as easily in the SM10, so they don’t have a draw bias.

As in previous Vokey wedges, Titleist makes the grooves in pitching and gap wedges deep and narrow, like an iron’s groove, because those clubs are often played with a full swing from the fairway or fairway rough. However, the grooves in the sand and lob wedges are wider and shallower to get water, sand and debris off the face more efficiently on shots hit…